It was reported last week that the price of brussels sprouts has risen by 203%
since last Christmas. Almost simultaneously, we learnt that more Britons are
moving abroad than at any time in recent history.
Clearly, these phenomena are related. As the sprout crisis threatens the very
heart of the British Christmas dinner, wise people are getting out while
there’s still time.
But what might they expect of festive eating abroad — and, more specifically,
in France? For a start, no sprouts or, indeed, crackers. Both are considered
particularly British pleasures. And the meal itself sprawls through
Christmas Eve rather than over Christmas Day.
For the rest, well, please read on — you might find some inspiration for your
own festivities. You might even join the great escape.
OYSTERS
Refusing an oyster on the grounds that it’s alive and looks like mucus is the
French equivalent of refusing Christmas pudding because it’s dead and looks
like landfill. Distinctly non-festive.
My favourites come not from Normandy, Brittany or the Atlantic coast, but from
the Etang de Thau, a sea-water lagoon back from the Med, behind Sète.
Tideless waters mean the molluscs mature quicker, with a more pronounced
oystery taste.
Learn this yourself in Bouzigues, a fishing village on the lagoon shore. At
the Arseillère oyster bar (17 Avenue Louis Tudesq), shellfish man
Jean-Pierre Molina will tell you oysters don’t need sprinkling with lemon
juice or vinegar. If they’ve got their own water, they’re good enough to eat
straight. Grab a glass of local Picpoul de Pinet white, some rye bread, an
oyster and. . . “Don’t gulp it down!” he cries. People who gulp are afraid
of oysters. Chew it.”
To stay: Grand Hôtel, Sète (17 Quai de Tassigny; 00 33-4 67 74 71 77, www.legrand
hotelsete.com; doubles from £61). Class in a canalside setting.
To eat: best in Bouzigues is La Côte Bleue (Avenue Louis Tudesq; 04 67
78 30 87; menus from £21).
FOIE GRAS
In Britain, admitting a taste for foie gras lumps you in with the snuff-movie
fraternity. The French couldn’t care less. It’s their second Christmas
course.
If you remain horrified, skip directly to the section below. If not, follow me
to the Gers département in Gascony, which produces France’s finest foie
gras. Comely hills roll up to woodland and down to rivers. Old-fashioned
farming defines the landscape — and geese and ducks waddle about vast
paddocks like mildly outraged aldermen. Stop at La Ferme de Mounet, on the
Route de Parleboscq outside Eauze, a stately setup where fowl are raised
free-range, and remain free for the force-feeding. “That should appeal to
English people, no?” says Mounet’s Monique Molas.
If you can’t get to Eauze, buy from www.ferme-de-mounet.com. A 300g jar of
duck foie gras (enough for six) costs about £33. Then all you need is
toasted country bread and wine. Sauternes works, but if you’re going for
broke, try a rich, white Saussignac from British producer Patricia
Atkinson’s Clos d’Yvigne vineyard near Bergerac. A half-case is £148.80 from www.cdywine.com
.
To stay: Logis des Cordeliers, Condom (Rue de la Paix; 00 33-5 62 28 03
68, www.logisdescordeliers.com;
doubles from £34). Modern, calm and practical.
To eat: nearby, La Table des Cordeliers (Rue des Cordeliers; 05 62 68
43 82, www.latabledescordeliers.fr;
menus from £27). Great food in a former chapel.
POULTRY
No surprise for the main course. As in Britain, turkeys and capons in France
face turbulent times in the days ahead. The French, though, make more of a
fanfare about it.
First stop is the Bresse region, north of Lyon. The wooded pastureland is
peppered with half-timbered farmhouses whose owners claim, with beguiling
French modesty, to produce the finest chickens and capons in the world.
White-feathered and blue-legged, the free-range birds have their own AOC and
get draped in the tricolore for sale.
Call in on a farmer. Joël Billet, at the Ferme du Poirier in
Montrevel-en-Bresse (00 33-4 74 30 82 97), will sell you a capon for about
£17 per kilo and a fattened pullet for £12 per kilo. The prices will make
you cluck, but they’re more expensive still in the shops. “And please ring
ahead,” says Joël. “Our birds go fast.”
Meanwhile, the turkey trot is a shorter trip. France’s tastiest gobblers are
at Licques, 5 miles south of Calais. The Licques turkey festival bursts to
life from December 15-17.
If you can’t make that, nip to the abattoir-cum-showroom on Rue de l’Abbé
Pruvost (03 21 35 05 42, www.licques-volailles.fr).
You’ll pick up a fine turkey for £5.75 per kilo. The French would eat it
with chestnut stuffing and, perhaps, a lighter Burgundy red.
To stay and eat: in Bresse, Hostellerie du Moulin de Bourgchâteau,
Louhans (Route de Chalon; 03 85 75 37 12, www.bourgchateau.
com; doubles from £45). Well-converted water mill. Restaurant menus from
£22.
In the Pas-de-Calais, Château de Cocove, Recques-sur-Hem (Avenue de Cocove; 03
21 82 68 29, www.chateaudecocove.
com; doubles from £66).
It’s a grand manor house in parkland, with poultry on the £19 menu.
CHEESE
Roquefort is obligatory on the festive French cheeseboard. It’s rich,
therefore Christmassy, but also sharp, so cuts through gluttony to the
essential. The necessary sheep graze on the arid limestone plateaux at the
southern end of the Massif Central. Below run the gorges of the Tarn, Jonte
and Dourbie. The milk is made into cheese, which is then taken to the
village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon (pop: 800), near Millau. Both tradition and
law require that roquefort be matured in the labyrinth of caverns that
honeycombs the rock. Natural fissures ensure the right temperature and
humidity to perfect the blue-green speckling.
And the largest producer, Roquefort Société (00 33-5 65 58 54 38, www.roquefort-societe.com;
visits £2), opens its caves year-round. If you’ve bought some (about £11 per
kilo), team it with country bread and a mellow white such as Jurançon or
Coteaux du Layon.
To stay and eat: the Grand Hôtel de la Muse et du Rozier at Peyreleau
(05 65 62 60 01, www.hotel-delamuse.fr;
doubles from £61). Venerable building, contemporary design, glorious gorges
setting. Menus from £35.
DESSERT
In Provence, they’ll try to foist upon you their famous collection of 13
Christmas desserts. Resist. They’re less festive than muesli. More
mainstream French tradition requires a Christmas log: rolled sponge,
flavoured with vanilla, praline, coffee, Grand Marnier or similar, covered
with chocolate and decorated perhaps with elves.
Relentless research hasn’t turned up a headline region for this item. In any
case, the best French housewives (eg, mine) make their own. If you don’t
have a French wife, find the leading patisserie wherever you happen to be,
and buy your bûche there. Drink champagne: demi-sec if you want to
complement the pud’s sweetness, brut if you care more about the champagne
than the log.
Foie gras is a natural product.
Ducks and geese are migratory birds who do not feed on their long flight south so they store food in their liver by over eating.
The 'force feeding' that farmers practise is just helping nature along.
Don't pass up the chance of a delicacy like foie gras because you think the birds suffer. After all if the farmers didn't make a profit from their birds they wouldn't bother to hatch the eggs.
GJB, SLOUGH, BERKSHIRE
Oysters are plentiful and cheap starting to come into the shops for Toussaint in November. Try them with chopped up shallots and wine vinegar rather than lemon. My local restaurant, though not open, will produce take-away meals to be collected on Christmas Eve or Day if given 48 hours advance notice. We say we have had the caterers in even if we do have to drive down and get it! A word of warning - do avoid asking for a "bouche" at the patissier. This has them in stitches. There is a subtle difference in pronounciation, one word meaning a mouth, the other a log! Boxing Day is not a bank holiday here, so no excuse for two weeks off. If the festival falls on a weekend - no days in lieu either.
Happy Xmas
Lesley Jolly
Lesley JOLLY, La Nocle Maulaix, France